A detailed account of my various commission/hobby projects.
Warhammer 40,000 – Grey Knights seem to find their way to my table quite often. This batch of models is to go with a force I painted last year that was mostly Paladins. This time around a bunch of Inquisitor, troops and special weapons are joining the fight.
Read MoreBoard Games – I’ve painted up a few of the expansions for Mythic Battles previously, mostly just extra monsters/heroes. This time around I painted up one of the core boxes for the game.
With 37 miniatures the core box is pretty packed with plastic. The figures range from large size gods and monsters to smaller scale heroes to slightly smaller troops. The scaling I assume helps to represent their importance on the board. As with the previous kits I’ve painted for this game the sculpts are very nice for a board game. Nothing ground breaking but nice.
The games sounds pretty cool Post-Apocalyptic Ancient Greece. Boardgamegeek has a pretty decent write-up detailing the game.
Warhammer 40,000 – Death Guard are gross. This project is adding some special characters, greater daemon, basic troops and blight haulers to an existing Black Legion/Death Guard force. The initial force was a bunch of terminators who were part of a very nasty list. This scheme is unique to allow flexibility with the other models in the range while keeping a consistent look across the force.
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Warhammer 40,000 – Black Legion is one of the more popular color schemes for Chaos Marines. It’s iconic and ties in with the big bad of the faction so most people who play Chaos Space Marines have at least toyed with the black and gold scheme.
This Vindicator and Maulerfiend are both part of a Black Legion force that I’ll probably be painting a little at a time. The scheme is the same as most of the other Black Legion models I’ve painted starting with a dark gray base and shading to get the black right with gold trim.
Warhammer 40,000 – The new Necron range is very cool. After years of sitting on just a few kits Games Workshop has finally updated the entire range to bring them in line with current modeling standards. I for one am super happy the glowing acrylic rods are a thing of the past, they didn’t add much to the models and made painting and assembling unnecessarily complicated.
Having painted a few of the new kits I was excited to see the big boss come across my table. The Silent King is one of the signature “BIG” kits that has been dropping with each new release. This model is huge, complicated and stands as a centerpiece for your force.
Of course to match the existing force this guy is supposed to go with I had to match the scheme I’ve been painting with the very generic silver black and green. I’m happy with the results sticking to a simple scheme on a complicated model really helps to tie it all together.
Warhammer 40,000 – The Indomitus Box has so much good stuff in it that its no surprise another set has found its way onto my painting table.
This time around part of the set is for a Death Watch force and part of it is going to be used for a Dark Angels force. Both of these are painted to match existing forces that I’ve been painting on and off over the last couple of years.
Warhammer 40,000 – This Iron Hands Successor Chapter is progressing nicely. Every few months I get a few more units to paint for this project. The simple color scheme has really grown on me and I like how it looks on the various units.
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Warhammer 40,000 – Necrons are usually printed boring to paint. Gunmetal with a wash and glowy bits means they’re simple to crank out. This project I had to come up with a different color scheme that looked cool but was just as easy to crank out.
Since Necrons are essentially skeletons in space I opted to work on a color scheme that feels bone-like but different. My solution wash to start with a khaki base coat with a heavy wash. Once that dried I applied a off-white dry-brush to the whole model to pick out the details and smooth any pooling from the wash. I then picked out the details with a neon green and gold before applied a wash to each of those colors. The end result is a different looking scheme that is easy to replicate quickly.
Warhammer 40,000 – Sometimes it amazes me the things people come up with to 3D Print. This model is for a Death Korp force I’ve been painting bits and pieces for over the last year or so. I guess the model is based on a photo from WWI which is very cool.
Board Games – When I think of Barbarian Hordes rampaging across the land worker placement isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. However in Tabula Games’ Barbarians: The Invasion they make it work.
Read MoreBoard Games – Some games just look amazing, when the art and minis match up with great graphic design you get a really great looking game. Vindication is one of those games. Thrown overboard and left for dead you awaken on a ruined island where you must forge a new fate.
Read MoreBoard Games – Space Battle games can range the from super complicated affairs like Twilight Imperium and Battlefleet Gothic to fairly simple like X-wing. Mothership is billed as being closer to the latter. Getting right into the heart of the battle is it’s primary selling point.
Read MoreBoard Games – I’ve previously painted up the expansions for this game so it was a nice surprise to see the core set make it’s way onto my painting table. As with the expansions I needed to keep the paint scheme super simple with the same colors as the molded plastic bits.
To make this work I started with a metallic silver base and then applied the appropriate contrast paint. The result is a nice hot rod metallic color that feels a bit nicer than the solid color plastic.
Warhammer 40,000 – Ad Mech has some of the coolest models in the Warhammer 40K range. They are also some of the most annoying models to paint. I kid of course, the combination of mechanical parts with flowing robes creates an interesting contrast on the models.
Board Games – I previously painted all the expansions for Blood Rage. This time around I completed the core set. Since its release in 2015 this game has held a really high rating on Board Game Geek and has won numerous awards.
Here’s a summary from the manufacturer:
“In Blood Rage, each player controls their own Viking clan’s warriors, leader, and ship. Ragnarök has come, and it’s the end of the world! It’s the Vikings’ last chance to go down in a blaze of glory and secure their place in Valhalla at Odin’s side! For a Viking there are many pathways to glory. You can invade and pillage the land for its rewards, crush your opponents in epic battles, fulfill quests, increase your clan's stats, or even die gloriously either in battle or from Ragnarök, the ultimate inescapable doom.
Most player strategies are guided by the cards drafted at the beginning of each of the three game rounds (or Ages). These “Gods’ Gifts” grant you numerous boons for your clan including: increased Viking strength and devious battle strategies, upgrades to your clan, or even the aid of legendary creatures from Norse mythology. They may also include various quests, from dominating specific provinces, to having lots of your Vikings sent to Valhalla. Most of these cards are aligned with one of the Norse gods, hinting at the kind of strategy they support. For example, Thor gives more glory for victory in battle, Heimdall grants you foresight and surprises, Tyr strengthens you in battle, while the trickster Loki actually rewards you for losing battles, or punishes the winner.
Players must choose their strategies carefully during the draft phase, but also be ready to adapt and react to their opponents’ strategies as the action phase unfolds. Battles are decided not only by the strength of the figures involved, but also by cards played in secret. By observing your opponent’s actions and allegiances to specific gods, you may predict what card they are likely to play, and plan accordingly. Winning battles is not always the best course of action, as the right card can get you even more rewards by being crushed. The only losing strategy in Blood Rage is to shy away from battle and a glorious death!”
To paint these guys I started with a Khaki base and heavy Earthshade wash. Once that base dried I went in with various browns and earth tones from the Contrast Range. With the pre-shading I did with the wash the contrast paints do a good job adding color on natural furs and straps like these models have.
Warhammer 40,000 – Dark Angels getting rolled into the main Space Marine book is a good thing. In fact thiis ninth edition change for all the Space Marines is the right direction. Getting all factions on the same page to avoid the random, Well out Storm Shields cost XX and do YY instead of ZZ.
With the supplement that was recently released they’re getting some cool unique options that give the First Chapter a bit of flair.
Warhammer 40,000 – Howling Banshees have always been one of my favorites designs for the various aspect warriors. In game they’ve suffered from being of both extremes of really good to just plain bad depending on the game edition and Craftworld Codex.
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – The Death Korp were one of those fancy Forgeworld Imperial Guard factions that had a special army list with weird rules and points costs that would alternate between way over costed and broken depending on the units or edition of the game. Recently Games Workshop revamped all the existing Forgeworld units and put any that didn’t have models or were discontinued got put into Legends which caused a bit of an uproar. So are Death Korp still viable?
Read MoreWarhammer 40,000 – Kill Team is one of my favorite additions to the Warhammer 40,000 brand. Small elite forces using a similar but different ruleset that works for the scale of this game. This is one half of a set I painted up for a client. It’s a pretty smart idea to have two teams built to fight each other as part of a travel kit.
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